ESPN has long been known as the Worldwide Leader in sports. Already in 2015, ESPN has continued to flex its muscles with a record-breaking showing on the digital side of things, reeling in 94 million unique visitors in January, an all-time mark. The digital boom has been going on since June 2014, with the last […]

ESPN has long been known as the Worldwide Leader in sports. Already in 2015, ESPN has continued to flex its muscles with a record-breaking showing on the digital side of things, reeling in 94 million unique visitors in January, an all-time mark. The digital boom has been going on since June 2014, with the last eight registered months bringing in the top eight unique visitor totals in the category’s history, per ESPN.

January had tremendous content for ESPN, including the first-ever college football playoffs, the NFL playoffs and NBA showcase games. The 93.97 million unique visitors in January represented a 52 percent uptick from Jan. 2014.

Over the course of January, 22.2 million Americans were reached on a daily basis, up 9.8 million from a year ago. To understand the scope of that number, it is better than the No.2 (Yahoo/NBC Sports) and No. 3 (Bleacher Report/Turner Sports) properties combined. Sports fans also watched 485.1 million video clips on ESPN in the month, the largest monthly total in the company’s history.

Mobile devices were the main source of digital viewers, bringing in 72.5 million users, increasing over the Jan. 2014 figure by a preposterous 41.3 million. All told, ESPN mobile generated 4.1 billion minutes of usage.

ESPN’s digital numbers only figure to grow. In February, DirecTV users were finally able to use WatchESPN. With the college basketball season now in full swing and WatchESPN offering tons of live events, the user content should continue to spike with viewers looking for some March Madness tips. In January, there were over 1 billion minutes streamed via this app, and over nine million unique devices visited both WatchESPN and ESPN3.

Summer is normally a dead period for sports networks. Even if the network has baseball, golf, tennis, horse racing, sailing, the WNBA and other sports, there still seems to be a need for more content to bridge the gap until football starts in late August and September. So ESPN has signed a deal to carry […]

Summer is normally a dead period for sports networks. Even if the network has baseball, golf, tennis, horse racing, sailing, the WNBA and other sports, there still seems to be a need for more content to bridge the gap until football starts in late August and September.

So ESPN has signed a deal to carry something called “The Basketball Tournament.” What is “The Basketball Tournament”? It’s an open-application, 5-on-5 single-elimination, winner take-all tournament that allows regular fans, former college and professional players and others to take part.

It begins on July 10-12 with 96 teams at regional sites in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Television then comes into play with ESPNU televising several “Super 17″ games, the 16 survivors from the regionals plus the defending champion (yes, there’s a champion from last year) Notre Dame Fighting Alumni which consisted of several former Big East players. And once final four are determined, they’ll go to New York to determine a champion and those games will aired on ESPN.

Last year, the winner received $500,000 and with ESPN involved, the prize is now doubled to $1,000,000 which will be divided among the team and its fans.

Teams even have a general manager, a booster, a coach, a roster of 7-12 players and fans.

The ESPN press release explains the concept:

Entry into TBT is free, with an application period that runs from April 1st through June 1st. The only way for Teams to qualify is to organize themselves and recruit votes via TheTournament.com. To be considered for entry, teams must consist of a General Manager (GM), at least seven players, and have 100+ votes. GMs will create team profiles on TheTournament.com in hopes of garnering enough votes to get an automatic bid to the tournament by the June 1st application deadline. Applicants must be 18 or older.

Fans who have registered on TheTournament.com will vote for their favorite teams, and 18 teams per region will be selected solely based on how many fan votes they are able to recruit online. TBT will invite six additional teams to play in each region based on creativity and talent. Additionally, for the first time anywhere, the winning team’s fan group will share 5% ($50,000) of the overall prize.

And The Basketball Tournament even has a further explanation on its website.

So if you want a chance to win a cool million dollars and think you can ball, then this might be for you.

This is one of the reasons why we miss Brent Musburger on the main ESPN college football game. Late in the action during Monday’s Oklahoma-Iowa State game, a gambling reference made its way into the discussion between Brent and his partner, Fran Fraschilla. With 31.9 seconds left and the Cyclones up by six, there was […]

This is one of the reasons why we miss Brent Musburger on the main ESPN college football game. Late in the action during Monday’s Oklahoma-Iowa State game, a gambling reference made its way into the discussion between Brent and his partner, Fran Fraschilla. With 31.9 seconds left and the Cyclones up by six, there was an out-of-bounds call that led Fraschilla to say, “I know you don’t want them to review that call, do you?”

After a burst of laughter Musburger replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about (chuckle, chuckle)…. Yes, I do and no I don’t.”

It was classic Brent. Nice to see that he still can work in gambling every so often.

Let’s face it. Political debates are usually boring. Whether they involve candidates for governor, mayor, House of Representatives, Senate, President or dogcatcher, debates rarely provide any incite or break news. However, a debate for FIFA president might be the one instance that breaks the mold. That’s right, there could be a debate involving current FIFA […]

Let’s face it. Political debates are usually boring. Whether they involve candidates for governor, mayor, House of Representatives, Senate, President or dogcatcher, debates rarely provide any incite or break news. However, a debate for FIFA president might be the one instance that breaks the mold.

That’s right, there could be a debate involving current FIFA President Sepp “Mo’ Money” Blatter and the three men who want to succeed him. Both the BBC and Sky TV in the UK have invited all four men who want to lead FIFA.

A Sky statement says the debate would provide the opportunity for all of the candidates to offer their ideas to soccer fans:

“Sky, in collaboration with the BBC, has invited all four candidates in the FIFA presidential election to take part in a live debate.

“We believe this will present an unprecedented opportunity for the candidates to set out their plans and communicate directly with fans from around the world. We hope for a positive response from all four candidates.”

Radio Times reports that both the BBC and Sky have heard from Blatter’s opponents, Fifa vice-president Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, Dutch Football Association president Michael van Praag and former Portugal player Luis Figo expressing interest in taking part, but it appears Blatter is either hiding under his desk or is ignoring the request.

The Football Association in the UK is offering to host the debate at Wembley Stadium. And even if the incumbent doesn’t take part, perhaps BBC and Sky could hold the debate with the other three candidates and have an empty chair represent Blatter.

The election for FIFA president will be held on May 29. Blatter is seeking his sixth term as the leader of the world soccer governing organization.

And if there is a debate, it would be interesting to see which networks around the world pick this up.

Local stations like to promote their news staffs as a team, friendly, neighborly and together as one. So it’s news when we hear of a fistfight between an anchor and a reporter. It’s even more so when it reportedly happens at a Hooters restaurant. According to the Illinois Times, WICS anchor Vince DeMentri and reporter […]

Local stations like to promote their news staffs as a team, friendly, neighborly and together as one. So it’s news when we hear of a fistfight between an anchor and a reporter. It’s even more so when it reportedly happens at a Hooters restaurant.

According to the Illinois Times, WICS anchor Vince DeMentri and reporter Garrett Brnger were the combatants. It happened after they covered the election in Springfield, IL.

Police were called to the Hooters after they received reports of two men fighting in the parking lot:

One person was bleeding from the nose, according to 911 dispatch reports. The two combatants drove away while officers were en route, one in a black BMW, the other in a black Jeep. The vehicle descriptions match vehicles driven by DeMentri and Brnger.

Police stopped a black Jeep that contained a person reportedly involved in the incident at the intersection of Ash Street and Dirksen Parkway, according to Dan Mounce, deputy chief of the Springfield Police Department, and 911 dispatch records. The deputy chief said that the person told officers that he had fallen from a stool.

Since the incident, both men’s biographies have been wiped from the station’s website.

DeMentri has been involved in incidents at his two previous TV stations, one in Philadelphia and the other in New York.

DISCLOSURE: The writer once worked with DeMentri at WPRI-TV in Providence.

This weekend, ESPN analyst and former MLB pitcher Curt Schilling blogged about Twitter trolls harassing his daughter after Schilling’s congratulated her for getting accepted to college. Schilling also did some amateur sleuthing of his own, and found some background information on a couple of the trolls. Their Twitter comments have resulted in severe discipline from […]

This weekend, ESPN analyst and former MLB pitcher Curt Schilling blogged about Twitter trolls harassing his daughter after Schilling’s congratulated her for getting accepted to college. Schilling also did some amateur sleuthing of his own, and found some background information on a couple of the trolls. Their Twitter comments have resulted in severe discipline from their colleges or employers.

Students and community members have rightfully expressed concerns regarding recent social media comments made by a Brookdale student.

The Twitter comments posted by this student are unacceptable and clearly violate the standards of conduct that are expected of all Brookdale students.

The student has been summarily suspended and will be scheduled for a conduct hearing where further disciplinary action will be taken. The Brookdale Police are actively investigating this matter. Brookdale takes this behavior very seriously and does not tolerate any form of harassment.

Our sincerest apologies to Gabby Schilling. Her achievement should be celebrated and not clouded by offensive comments.

Another was fired from his part-time job with the Yankees as a ticket seller.

MacDonald was hired as a part-time ticket seller for the New York Yankees at the end of January, according to Jason Zillo, the team’s director of communications.

Zillo said MacDonald worked about 18 hours over four days for the Yankees. Zillo said MacDonald was fired today.

Schilling’s been making the rounds on radio shows this morning, and had some strong comments about the situation on WEEI’s Dennis and Callahan.

“It’s not a mistake,” Schilling said. “People talk about making mistakes as a kid — listen, I’ve made a million mistakes — these are conscious decisions because a mistake is saying you know what, ‘You’re a tool,’ and going on and saying, ‘Oh gosh, I shouldn’t of said that’ and going back and deleting it. This was over and over and over. You could see at some point they all thought what the hell is he going to do to me and they got worse and eventually it got to the point where I said OK, I need to fix this.”

“A couple of these guys, this stuff will follow them around for the rest of their lives because I am going to make sure it does,” he added.

[…]

“I’ve forgiven them, but they are never going to be able to out live this,” he said. “This is with them for the rest of their lives. This is not a mistake. Let me be very clear, these kids didn’t make a mistake. They made conscious decisions to talk about rape, and sex and defiling a 17-year-old girl. What part of the news are these people not seeing on a daily basis where kids on a daily basis are killing themselves from being cyber bullied?”

While Schilling is definitely fighting the good fight here, I’m just worried that all this will do is encourage even more anonymity from Twitter trolls. Going on the warpath can take care of people that leave personal information on their account, but there’s not much you can do when someone is an egg with a fake name and nothing but hateful tweets.

]]>http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/discipline-dished-twitter-trolls-harassed-curt-schillings-daughter.html/feed0This Woody Paige Before and After is a little creepyhttp://awfulannouncing.com/the-locker/woody-paige-little-creepy.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=woody-paige-little-creepy
http://awfulannouncing.com/the-locker/woody-paige-little-creepy.html#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 15:35:03 +0000http://awfulannouncing.com/?p=36328

Do you realize that Woody Paige has spent the last 12 years as a panelist on Around the Horn? 12 years!!! Apparently Woody Paige is still alive and still a regular panelist on Around the Horn. When Around the Horn debuted, Yao Ming was the #1 pick in the NBA Draft. To put that in […]

Do you realize that Woody Paige has spent the last 12 years as a panelist on Around the Horn? 12 years!!! Apparently Woody Paige is still alive and still a regular panelist on Around the Horn. When Around the Horn debuted, Yao Ming was the #1 pick in the NBA Draft. To put that in perspective, David Diehl was drafted by the Giants, won two Super Bowls, retired, and joined the NFL on Fox all in the time Paige has been on Around the Horn.

And that’s just his ESPN career. Paige’s sportswriting career goes way back many more decades. ESPN colleague Darren Rovell pulled out this old photograph of Paige from his days covering the ABA at the Sporting News in the 70’s.

Keith Olbermann was suspended by ESPN last week after getting into an ugly Twitter War with Penn State students who were raising money for pediatric cancer. Olbermann’s Twitter persona has been as fiery and combative as the days when he was delivering special comments calling out George W. Bush on MSNBC. The host has casually […]

Keith Olbermann was suspended by ESPN last week after getting into an ugly Twitter War with Penn State students who were raising money for pediatric cancer. Olbermann’s Twitter persona has been as fiery and combative as the days when he was delivering special comments calling out George W. Bush on MSNBC. The host has casually referred to his Twitter scraps as “batting practice” in which he takes swings at anyone who enters into his mentions whether they be NASCAR fans, the New York Daily News, Penn State students, conservatives, or whoever the opponent of the day might be. To Olbermann, it was almost a matter of sport.

However, that approach to Twitter was always going to end poorly. The indiscriminate “batting practice” caught up to Olbermann when he appeared to criticize Penn State students who were fundraising by calling them “pitiful.”

In his return to his eponymous ESPN2 show on Monday, we got the answer: Olbermann said he wouldn’t be taking any more swings in the cage. He called out his own “stupidity” over the tweets, discussed donations to charitable causes, and talked about the need to step away from the “wild west saloon brawling” on Twitter.

As far as Olbermann’s career at ESPN, his stepping away from “batting practice” could be a saving grace for him. If he had continued taking swings at anyone and everyone on Twitter like he was Vladimir Guerrero, he would eventually strike out. Instead, he can focus his energy on what he does best and save it for his show. It’s a decision that could set a positive course for the rest of his ESPN tenure.

Unbelievably, KO also admitted that he didn’t click on the link to discover what was in that original tweet that started it all. He merely responded to the “we are” and it all went downhill from there. Had KO just took the four seconds to click on the link to see what PSU students were doing, none of this would have ever happened.

And really, that says it all about Olbermann making the right decision to step away from his batting practice, doesn’t it? That we get so caught up in the fight on Twitter that we don’t even take time to think about what it is we’re doing. And as we discussed with the abuse towards Curt Schilling’s daughter yesterday, all too often we remove the human element from Twitter, which should never happen. How many jobs could be saved? How many suspensions could be revoked? How much abuse and indignation could be erased… if we all simply thought before we tweeted. As Olbermann discovered, sometimes those lessons are learned the hard way. And hopefully someone else out there learns from Olbermann’s example and puts down the bat as well.

Yesterday we enjoyed the genesis of a ridiculous feud between ESPN SportsCenter anchor Robert Flores and Lakers guard Nick Young slash Australian rapper girlfriend Iggy Azalea. Flores made a joke on SportsCenter about I-G-G-Y killing hip hop, Swaggy P took it personally, and here we are. Flores appeared on ESPN Radio’s Sedano and Stink (go […]

Flores appeared on ESPN Radio’s Sedano and Stink (go to the 39 minute mark) to talk about his time in the spotlight and the feud with Young. He talked about the initial joke being “all in good fun” and how Young might have taken a step back from taking such serious offense over it (he ended up deleting the tweets calling out Flores). But RoFlo just couldn’t resist one more barb in the direction of Swaggy P…

“If you look at his numbers, there is a 70% chance that, if he takes a shot at me, he’s going to miss. I’m just looking at the numbers, so I’m good.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa… Nick Young is a 36% shooter. Not 30%. RoFlo shouldn’t get too cocky, here and think he’s got this in the bag. If this doesn’t end with a charity boxing match in Temecula, I’m going to be really disappointed.